P. Cutta: Street Wars 22

Hip-hop and diss records go together like steroids and baseball. Sure it’s not necessary, but it makes for real good soap opera sh*t. And P. Cutta’s been that dude for the past few years to give the street it’s fill on what’s going on in the Hip-Hop Deli and what we didn’t know was going on in the stock room. Like me personally, I didn’t even know Soulja Boy and Bow Wow were beefing, and apparently they are. But real talk, that’s about as interesting as Miley Cyrus’ rivalry with Selena Gomez (how sad is it that a Disney beef was more significant to pop culture than BW’s and SB’s?).

But anyway, that’s neither here nor there. Back to relevant rappers like Weezy saying, “I ain’t on Hova level/I’m Ova leveled,” on “I’m So Fly.” Is this man serious? See what happens when you drop a good album (Carter II) and a very successful mediocre one (Carter III), you can automatically claim to be on a higher level than a man who’s dropped 12 albums. Mind you, 10 of those 12 were bangers and 2 of the 10 were classics. But then again, this is the Disney generation, so it’s whatever. Speaking of which, NOW Jay wanna diss Fat Joe with his verse on “He Asked For It”? Son, why you beating a dead horse for? That beef was going on while Moses was walking up Mt. Sinai to give man a law to abide by. So unnecessary to bring up old sh*t.

The real gems came from today’s current beefs like Saigon vs. Joe Budden. I haven’t heard quality diss records from two MCs like this since Tupac was dissing everyone and Mobb Deep responded with, “Drop A Gem.” Funny enough, Prodigy doesn’t like either of these men. Budden’s “Pain In His Life” was a straight lyrical assault on the Yard Father’s street and jail credibility. And Saigon’s “Pushin’ Buddens” was a straight rhyming rampage over Wu’s “Protect Ya Neck” instrumental. Airing out Joey’s dime piece of a wife’s dirty laundry and questioning his son’s sexuality, damn. He got at Joe something horrible. The beef has since been rumored to be squashed, but the game needed some straight bangers like those records without the banging in the street. Who actually won the battle is debatable, but that they dropped some heat is a given. Great sh*t, fellas.

But the main event stems from two of the biggest bosses in the game: 50 Cent and Rick Ross. While it would seem like Ross has the lyrical advantage at this point, dropping a few bars in a freestyle here and there isn’t cutting it. “Kiss My Pinky Ring” and “Push Em Over The Edge” were cool entertainment, but they weren’t doing any damage to hip-hop’s favorite bad guy. Meanwhile, 50 got the streets buzzing with “I’ll Be The Shooter” and went for the knock out blow with “Tia Told Me.” While Tia isn’t your conventional diss record, it’s a low blow on a lot of levels and at the same time is one of the catchiest 50 joints ever. It was an actual song/diss record. And you have to remember, a few bars isn’t going to compete with a whole song. Need I remind everyone of “Super Ugly” vs. “Ether”?

Again, P. Cutta’s put together a cool mixtape. But it’s only as good as the beefs are interesting and the records are good. So I applaud the creativity of every rapper that’s on here who actually put effort into making a quality joint and not just attempt to do something to land him in the joint.